Mastering the royals’ esoterica is sending American staffs from Richmond to Washington to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt into a fear-tinged tizzy. E-mails are pinging back and forth between the queen’s page and the director of the Virginia Governor’s Mansion. In the last week alone, 300,000 people have clicked on a special Virginia Web site, seeking info about the arrival of Her Majesty. At NASA, when Goddard officials offered a chance for 200 employees to simply sit in an auditorium with the queen, 900 responses immediately flooded back.

Okay, let’s get this straight people.

We won the Revolutionary War.

We owe no allegiance to the British Throne.

When it comes to the British Royal Family (to the extent you can call the Buckingham Place rendition of “Married With Children” a family) we owe them nothing.

No respect.

Nothing.

Is it nice that she’s visiting my home state ? Maybe.

But, frankly, I don’t think we need to fawn over this woman. Don’t genuflect. Don’t bow. She is not your superior. She’s just a nice (maybe) lady who lives in another country.

If any colony was a loyalist hotbed, I’d put Massachusetts or New York in that category.

http://thelibertypapers.org/2005/11/22/a-bit-about-kevin/ Kevin

Are you sure ?

If I’m not mistaken, weren’t loyalist raiders active in rural Virginia during the Southern campaign in the late 1770s-early 1780s before Yorktown? Perhaps I’m lumping Virginia in with the fighting in rural North Carolina and South Carolina (two Loyalist hotbeds that only began to align with the Americans when the British offered slaves freedom if they fought with the British).

If any colony was a loyalist hotbed, Iâ€™d put Massachusetts or New York in that category.

I’ll grant New York. Burgoyne was aided by New York loyalists when he marched to his defeat in Saratoga. However, Massachusetts, the home of the Revolution was anything but a loyalist stronghold. Boston perhaps until the British evacuated in late 1775, but Massachusetts was definitely pro-Patriot.

Now if the Revolution was fought today on the other hand…..

Wild Pegasus

Tyranny of George III? LOL, he was half-senile. The Declaration of Independence had great things to say about political philosophy, but its recounting of the current situation was propoganda. That was all Parliament.

As to fawning over the Queen, it’s perfectly natural to be excited to meet her. I don’t see the harm at all.

– Josh

http://gottsegnet.blogspot.com Dana

There’s one story about Old King George I like. Benjamin West was an American Patriot and close friend of the King. Supposedly, in one meeting several English people present chided him for being American and a Patriot. King George came to his defend basically saying that anyone who wasn’t a patriot couldn’t be trusted.

Then he went mad and the relationship changed, but that is another story.

http://www.thelibertypapers.org Doug Mataconis

As to fawning over the Queen, itâ€™s perfectly natural to be excited to meet her. I donâ€™t see the harm at all.

As long as we all agree that that’s exactly what it is —- fawning over someone who is famous for being famous.

Personally, though, I despise the idea of American citizens eagerly standing in line to curtsey to a monarch. If you want to meet the Queen of England, then go ahead and do it. But shake her hand, don’t treat her like a god.

Neville Taylor

A curtsey or a bow would be the last thing the Queen would expect from Americans. She is not an absolute medieval monarch, she’s a modern constitutional monarch. She’s not that keen on such formality with her own people. Please get your heads out of the past. She didn’t ask for this job, and she does it with dignity. Please, at least give her respect for that. This is not the 1700’s.

xenos

Neville: in a story for the New York times, it was written that Laura Bush and other women present at the dinner have the option of curtseying, but it’s not required. It is not “the last thing” the Queen would expect. It’s in the State Department’s “etiquette notebook”.